Tiradentes and the republican school

myth, memory, controversies

Abstract

This study analyzes the processes involved in the construction of the political myth of Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, Tiradentes (1746-1792), during the Brazilian First Republic (1889-1930), considering its role in producing legitimizing symbols for the new regime and in consolidating a republican identity. The research question seeks to understand how the figure of Tiradentes was mobilized as a civic and pedagogical reference, as well as which cultural and political mechanisms contributed to the diffusion of this narrative in the public sphere. The study adopts a qualitative approach inspired by cultural history and documentary analysis, combining primary sources, such as newspapers, iconography, commemorative legislation, and school textbooks, with secondary sources from historiography and social theory. The investigation examines the relationships between collective memory, political myth, and civic pedagogy, highlighting the social role of schools, public celebrations, and symbolic representations in constructing the image of Tiradentes as a republican hero. The research also considers contemporary reinterpretations of this memory within the current communicational environment, marked by the digital circulation of historical narratives and the pluralization of symbolic disputes over the past.